Creating Color Changes From One Room to Another

I have a dining room/kitchen that I would like to paint, but I am having a hard time coming up with colors. The cabinets are a light-medium oak color, as well as the floor. There is a dining room adjacent to the kitchen that has chair rail around it in the same color.

I would like to paint a striped deep red color on the bottom, but I have burgundy colored carpet in the living room that is open to the dining room and think the color that I would like to paint below the chair rail would clash. I was thinking about having the color on top of the chair rail be lighter than the bottom, and have the kitchen a different color than the dining room's colors.

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My other rooms are painted in neutral colors, but I don't want creams in my kitchen/dining room. Any suggestions? I'm at my wits' end! I have a picture of the one wall where you can see the chair rail (which is the same color as my cabinets, and the burgundy carpet) Thanks!

I did a bit of research for you on the 'net. Colors that work well with burgundy are gold, pumpkin, terra cotta, rose, hunter green, royal blue, and copper. If you have a color wheel, create an imaginary triangle having one point be the burgundy. Those other two colors compliment the burgundy.

If you choose the gold, pumpkin, terracotta or copper, they should already compliment the oak wood.

The main question is : does your kitchen and dining room open up to each other or are they self contained? If they are self contained the colors can be different, if they are open they will need to match or coordinate to avoid clashing. You need a paint color that will make the wood POP! This needs contrast for the paint to the wood. The colors you have chosen is not enough to contrast. Good luck.

The dining room opens up to the kitchen which then in turn turns into a hallway with a single window leading out to our garage. I was thinking of doing homberg gray by sherwin williams on the bottom in a striped pattern (in glossy and semi gloss finish maybe?) and I'm stuck as far as what to use for the color on the top and in the kitchen. Any suggestions?

I have an open kitchen, dining room, and front room that all connect. The ceilings are 10ft tall with coffer ceilings. My couches are brown leather. What color should I paint and how? I like the sage, cranberry, and browns, but I don't know how to go about doing it because it is all connected and with the coffer ceilings! Please help.

Answers:

Creating Color Changes From One Room to Another

I love sage and cranberry, but the tricky thing is figuring out where you stop one color and start the other. One way to do it so it won't be so obvious if the paint lines are not perfect is to do sage and then start with a color that is one shade lighter or darker. You'll need to find a wall that might serve as a dividing line, perhaps near the dining room table. Is there one wall where you could use cranberry, then use a color 2 shades lighter to highlight the coffered ceiling? Or are they wooden beams? Another solution is to paint the whole space one color and then split it up visually with the furniture arrangements, so it looks like 3-4 mini rooms or conversation areas. (09/23/2010)

Creating Color Changes From One Room to Another

I think it will all have to be one color. Sage would look pretty. You could possibly do stripes or a stamped design of a different shade or color on an outside wall in one or more rooms as long as the wall isn't connected to another room. (09/24/2010)

Creating Color Changes From One Room to Another

Sounds like my 100 yr old house. My kitchen is beige tones, I rag rolled a basket weave (not intentionally) in 2 shades of oil paint, the dining room part is wallpapered with white back ground, soft blue floral, nondescript, with beige-gold sheers, brown carpet. I have a 100 yr old leaded glass and mirrored buffet (as we call them) that was built in 100 yrs ago. It is the kind with pillars. This leads to the living room and full open stairway, done in the soft beige oilcloth wallpaper. It looks like a photo studio background.

My colors are in the earth tones, I pop out brighter colors with accent pieces, like vases, decor, etc. Tall peacock feathers in a vase brings those tones, the leaded piano window at 6 foot height allows more shelf decor. I pick up pieces at garage sales that I would never go and buy so that makes them not a permanent piece I need to display. So many ideas that I can't use them all the time; I rotate!

The carpet goes from the kitchen/dining room archway to the living room and up the open stairway, 60 running feet. By staying with neutral colors, each room is descriptive on its own, yet it flows from one room to the next without interruption. Some may say boring, I say easy on the decorating, I can mix and match as moods allow. Shopping for colors almost always fits perfectly. My drapes in the living room are also of the beige/brown thermal type, friendly with kids, easy to clean. Not shiny so nothing says hey look at me. I have friends come who ask if something is new because they see new things each time, depending on the lights in the room. When in doubt, I can use a splash of fabrics wrapped around a vase here or there. My favorite is the black silk roses in an Aztec colored vase trimmed in 20 k gold paint. It was a Goodwill purchase. You see the vase and the silks.

My ceilings are white as can be, with light texture. It helps bounce light around the large rooms, no sheen, sparkle. Flat 100 yr old ceilings! (09/25/2010)

My kitchen and dining room are an open concept with 2 walls 4ft wide separating the living room. The opening is 8ft. I am painting one wall in living room red and the wall behind the kitchen cabinets is also red. Other walls in the living room are a creamy beige color. I would like to paint the other wall in dining room pale sage green or a yellow.

I am painting my house and the living room and dining room are one long room. The kitchen opens into the dining alcove. How do I know where on the wall to stop painting the kitchen (yellow) and start the color for the dining/living room?

Someone suggested the point where the cabinets end. There is kitchen countertop/bar area which connects kitchen/dining rooms.

Also, do I have to follow a certain color scheme. I really don't like the tan/cream/beige colors and would like to do the dining room/living room in a green/sage shade. Any suggestions.

Thanks.Angie from Allen Park, MI

Answers:

Color Advice on Redecorating

It is your space, you decide where the colours change. When you do this, varathane a nice piece of wooden trim (from your home hardware store) and have it placed there to "divide" the two spaces. Greens and yellows look pretty together, so you should easily be able to make things blend. Just make sure to put something green in your yellow space (something ornamental) and something yellow in your green space (flowers?), to help them blend more easily. Have fun. (11/18/2005)

By Patsy

Color Advice on Redecorating

To divide the 2 spaces you could wallpaper the dining room with a color that is complementary to the kitchen and separate the two with a vertical chair rail.Or wallpaper part of the dining room wall and paint the other half (top or bottom) with the kitchen color. Separate with a chair rail. (11/18/2005)

Color Advice on Redecorating

Color Advice on Redecorating

Can you sponge mix the two colors on a mutual wall? (11/18/2005)

By Kelly

Color Advice on Redecorating

On a decorating show, I saw where they used a floor to ceiling curtain panel, hung it on a swing arm hook on one wall, then gathered the bottom to that wall with a tieback. You never have to move it, yet it seemed to separate the rooms into their own spaces, plus you could use colors of each room to "tie" them together. Just a thought. (11/19/2005)

By Lauren

Creating Color Changes From One Room to Another

Always paint to the end of a wall. If you try to change the color in the middle of a wall, it will be very noticeable. If you have a wall that goes from one distinct area to another, choose a color for that wall that works for both areas. (08/07/2009)